Cricket
Cricket is a young female HiveWing and the main protagonist of ''The Hive Queen''. She is interested in the studies of invention, science, and botany, although her curiosity is often frowned upon. She is one of the only known HiveWings who are fully immune to Queen Wasp's mind-controlling ability. The reason behind it is because she wasn't injected with Queen Wasp’s poison. It is confirmed that she returns feelings for Blue, yet neither of them knows about each others' feelings, and neither has confessed. She helped Blue when the HiveWings were being mind-controlled by Queen Wasp, which lead to their friendship and possible relationship. Personality Cricket is immensely interested in science and invention, and is always eager to learn something new. She can also be a little rebellious, and often finds herself frustrated by the strict codes of HiveWing society, as they don't allow her to research or learn certain topics. Although Cricket lacks care for authority and dignity, she is very empathetic, proven when she rescued Blue against her own tribe's wishes and helped him to rescue his friend Swordtail. Cricket carries none of the usual smugness and haughtiness that the rest of her tribe does, and has shown to be kind but firm, not letting anyone push her around. She doesn’t like to hurt other dragons, and disagrees with Sundew’s violent ideas. She was horrified when Sundew said that Blue was going to burn down the hives. She can be quite naive, too. Appearance Cricket has palish orange-gold scales speckled here and there with black scales that looked like tiny inkblots (although on the The Hive Queen cover she has dusty black spots), golden yellow talons (Although she has black talons on the The Hive Queen cover) , and warm, dark brown eyes . She is smaller than Blue and has small, sharp claws like a leopard’s, as well as an open and curious face. She wears gold-rimmed, hexagonal spectacles and a bag tied sideways across her chest . She is said to smell like books, apples, and weird cinnamon by Blue. Biography The Lost Continent Cricket made her first appearance by helping Blue, a young SilkWing, by pulling him into a shed that was hidden from the eyes of the pursuing HiveWings. Cricket explained that, for an unknown reason, she could not be mind-controlled by Queen Wasp, like the rest of her tribe was. After escaping through tunnels located under the HiveWing school, Cricket brought Blue to an empty low-level library, where he began to feel dizzy. Cricket speculated that the HiveWings had probably injected him with a barb covered in sleeping toxin, probably implemented to make him easier to capture. After Cricket burned off Blue's wrist cuff with a strand of flamesilk belonging to one of the library's lamps, he fell into a woozy sleep. He woke up to Cricket's talons shaking him awake and voices echoing nearby. Cricket and Blue hid in the tunnels once again while three mind-controlled HiveWings searched the area; one of them was Cricket's own sister, Katydid, and another was an arrogant dragon named Bombardier, who believed that Cricket was madly in love with him. After the HiveWing trio had cleared the library, Cricket and Blue emerged into the light once more, where Cricket pulled a book off of a high shelf. From the book, they learned that if a SilkWing had one flamesilk parent, then they only had a fifty percent chance of becoming a flamesilk too. Leaving the library, Cricket led Blue through the school - she showed him her terrarium, where a little tree was growing in the middle. She explained that she had found its seed on one of her school gathering trips, and that she hadn't known what it was until it started growing. Cricket told Blue that Professor Earthworm, a teacher at the school, wanted her to uproot it. Next, Cricket took Blue into an art room, where she began to paint him in a mix of dull browns, reds, and blues to hide his vibrant scales. They became closer in a moment in which Cricket told Blue about how Principal Lubber scolded her for her chaotic yet beautiful art. "Cricket, why can't you just draw this orange like all the other dragonets?" Blue imitated Principal Lubber, making Cricket laugh, saying: "That's exactly what she sounds like!" Once they were out of the school, Cricket agreed to help rescue Blue's friend Swordtail from Misbehaver's Way. They found him frozen to his pedestal in an angry position, like he was trying to fight his way out of being paralyzed, but in obvious vain. Cricket held a bubbling green vial under Swordtail's nose to combat the HiveWing paralysis toxin, but the mixture also gave Swordtail green eyes, extra strength and made him a little loopy. After Swordtail smashed one of the rule tablets straight through the Way's treestuff, Cricket decided that it was time to go. Wrapping Blue's shoulders in a few strands of silk, Swordtail grabbed him and lifted off. They flew for most of the night, and by dawn they were nearly to Wasp Hive's border. Eventually, they hid in a massive divot in the ground, flying to the bottom and down a tunnel once there, where they encountered a small pool of cold water. At the other end of the pool, they discovered a small campfire and a small creature reading a book that resembled a monkey, presumably similar to Pyrrhia's scavengers. After the monkey creature was scared away by Cricket's voice, Swordtail passed out near the fire, and Blue took first watch while Cricket slept as well. When night falls once again, Swordtail tries and fails to lift Blue - the stimulant had worn off, and Cricket had used all of it the first time; Cricket eventually came up with the idea for Blue to climb, with Swordtail's silk wrapped around him in case he slipped and fell. Near the top of the divot, Cricket and Blue found a small cave, where they curled up together and Blue got some much-needed rest while Swordtail returned to the bottom of the divot. After the HiveWing parties had stopped coming to search near the hole, Swordtail flew ahead while Cricket and Blue snuck through the savanna's tall grass. When they finally are able to sneak into Wasp Hive, they hide in one of the queen's greenhouses. Unexpectedly, they are captured by three strange dragons - and, terrifyingly, they turn out to be LeafWings, the supposedly deadly and cruel mortal enemies of the HiveWings. They introduce themselves as Sundew, Belladonna, and Hemlock. They explained that if Cricket, Blue, and Swordtail wanted to live, then they would steal the Book of Clearsight and return it to them. Cricket's initial plan was to leave once the LeafWings had let them go, but Belladonna sent Sundew with them to ensure that they got the job done. Disguising Sundew as a SilkWing, Hemlock rubbed flower juice on her scales to add more color. Belladonna also tied two makeshift wings made of leaves to Sundew's back, instructing her to keep her real ones folded to make them appear more realistic. While Swordtail stayed with Belladona and Hemlock, Cricket, Blue, and Sundew went out into the Hive to finish their task. Sundew gave Cricket a large flower, instructing her not to crush any part of it; Cricket held it under the noses of the two HiveWings guarding the entrance to the to Wasp Hive, knocking them out but leaving them alive. Pushing aside two heavy wooden doors, they walked through a series of hallways until they were standing at the foot of the Temple. Once they were inside, Blue and Sundew acted as Cricket's servants until Sundew got close enough to the guards to paralyze them. In the final room, Sundew was confronted by a dark voice, which turned out to The Librarian. After she ripped off her dark veil, Cricket realized that her eyes were fully white - the unmistakable symbol of the queen's mind control. Sundew attacked the Librarian from her side, and the two continued to fight while Blue picked up the bookcase key - dropped during the fight - and stole the Book. After Sundew had broken the Librarian's arm, she speculated that enough pain would make the queen exit her mind for a while; while the queen was mind-controlling someone, she felt everything that said dragon felt. Cricket opened a jar and shook a pair of bullet ants onto the Librarian's scales; after they bit her, the queen disappeared, and the Librarian's mind was her own for the first time in years. However, hundreds of brainwashed HiveWings were now surrounding the Temple with the intent to kill Cricket and Sundew and to imprison Blue. The Librarian tried to help them escape, but Wasp had invaded her mind again, causing her to turn against her new companions. Cricket and Sundew were unable to help Blue as he fell into the waiting talons of the HiveWings; as Blue threw the Book of Clearsight into Cricket's talons, they fled. After a few days trapped in the flamesilk factory, Blue felt talons brush his through a hole in the building's wall; they were Cricket's talons, and she was accompanied by Sundew and Swordtail. After telling Luna - who had emerged out of her cocoon - and trying to convince his father, Admiral, to go with them, Admiral had refused and had tried to alert the watching HiveWing guards. However, Danaid, another of the imprisoned flamesilks, helped them by starting an argument that covered the noise of Admiral's warning. Knocking down the loose stones around the hole, they all escaped down a series of tunnels. Cricket, along with the rest of the gang, escape through the LeafWing tunnel. When it ends at the sea, she is ecstatic, and begins to express hope at finding the Distant Kingdoms (the Pantalan name for Pyrrhia). Afterward, she shows the others what is written in the Book of Clearsight, and that the last vision recorded took place over a thousand years before. Luna and Swordtail decide to go for a flight, and Cricket stays with Blue, discussing his metamorphosis, and assuring him that it will be fine. Luna and Swordtail are discovered by some HiveWing soldiers, and a fight starts. As Sundew rushes to help, Cricket is left with Blue, about to start his metamorphosis. She guides him to a cave she found for him to hide in while he changes, and stays with him while he begins to spin his cocoon, promising him that she will be right there "the whole time", and will be next to him when he wakes up. As he weaves his cocoon, Blue reflects that he is in love with her, even though he had been dropping hints about it all through the book. The Hive Queen In the beginning of The Hive Queen, Cricket is in the cave with the cocooned Blue. She has a flashback to her past when she first found out that she was immune to Queen Wasp’s mind control. She was reading a book that belonged to Cadelle, her mother, when she heard her and Katydid speaking in strange unison. When Cricket’s mother and sister left the house, Cricket rushed into her mother’s office to look outside. She saw the mind-controlled HiveWings arrest a very old HiveWing. After the scene was over, Cricket waited for Katydid to come home. When Katydid was home, Cricket asked her about the zombified HiveWings and Katydid figured out that Cricket was somehow immune to the “whole hive command.” The flashback ends and Cricket wishes that she had brought a book with her. She reflects on the time she promised to stay by Blue’s side and describes the moment as romantic. She hears a dragon in the caves, which turns out to be Sundew dragging a unconscious Swordtail behind her. When Swordtail wakes up, he says that he could not find Luna. Sundew introduces a plan that she has to the others and says that she wants Blue to burn down the hives. Cricket objects to this and says that Blue would never do that. However, Swordtail agrees to the plan and questions Cricket’s knowledge of Blue’s personality, since she had only known him for a few days. This makes Cricket miserable. Time skip and Blue comes out of his cocoon. He is happy to see Cricket and successfully guesses that she was bored while waiting for him. Cricket wonders if Blue can see how much she adores him and wishes she knew what he felt. The group agrees to find the Chrysalis in one of the nearest hives. Due to Cricket’s experience with Jewel Hive, which was not pleasant because it is where Cadelle went when she left Cricket and Katydid, the group decided to go there. Cricket, Sundew, Blue, and Swordtail get into a couple of shops early in the morning to steal disguises. Blue leaves some flamesilk behind to pay for what they stole, and the group travels to the Glitterbazaar. The statue in the Glitterbazaar contains a hidden message that says “Midnight. Library. 5.” As Cricket and her friends are hiding out and waiting until midnight, Cricket sees Katydid and Lady Scarab creeping into Cadelle’s house. Cricket goes to talk to her sister, who reveals that Cadelle is not her mother and “father” is not her father either. Cricket and her friends sneak into the library where they meet Morpho, Tau, and Cinnabar. At first the other SilkWings are stressed at Cricket’s presence, but when they learn that Cricket is immune to the mind-control, they somewhat accept her. Then Sundew reveals herself, and Morpho agrees to assist her in taking down the HiveWings. Then the group is hiding due to mind-controlled HiveWings breaking into the library in their search for them. Afterwards, Cricket wants to go search for her sister to warn her about the Queen. She visits Lady Scarab’s house where her sister has already been taken by the queen. Lady Scarab reveals that Cricket’s mother is Katydid and her father is Malachite. Cricket then forms a plan to expose the Queen’s secrets to all of Jewel Hive. Cricket hands out flyers that tell the truth about the Book of Clearsight and gets caught by Cadelle, who then becomes mind-controlled and sees Cricket. Cricket is arrested and taken to the Jewel Hive prison. She is visited by Lady Scarab and Lady Jewel, who let her escape. Cricket uses a string of flamesilk to burn a hole in the ceiling and is assisted into the kitchen by Tau and Cinnabar. On the way out, Tau has to bring Treehopper away from the exit before Cricket can escape. Cricket then flies to the hatchery and she notices strange markings on some of the eggs. She takes an orphaned egg with only one marking and hides, where she observes Queen Wasp injecting venom into the other eggs. She predicts that Katydid must have traced the markings onto Cricket’s egg so that Queen Wasp ended up injecting her only once or never. After Wasp leaves, Cricket takes the egg she had rescued and flees from the hive. She meets up with her friends again and they all escape to a cave. The next day, the rescued egg hatches, and therefor Cricket and the others (Blue and Swordtail) name her Bumblebee. The four then watch as Bloodworm hive is burned to the ground. Sundew then sniffs Bumblebee’s egg and recognizes the smell from the greenhouse she used to live in with her parents. The group burns down the greenhouse that housed the plant and decides to go to the Poison Jungle. Family Tree Quotes "You sure are. Oh dear, I'm sorry, I bet you've heard that one before." ''- To Blue about his name. ''"That is reassuring. Thoroughly utterly reassuring, except for how it's exactly what a dangerous criminal would say." - ''To Blue after he tells her he is "thoroughly utterly incapable of harm doing". ''"I hope that's a good sign. Do you think you could smile and stand up at the same time? I would love to let you sleep more, but I think we really need to move." - ''To Blue ''"She doesn't know what it feels like for me to have to hide from her." - ''To Blue about Katydid. ''"We're not barbarians, Blue. The queen's a little scary, but she's not a murderer." - ''To Blue about Queen Wasp. ''"Oooo, the perfect title for my memoir. 'Right about almost everything', by Cricket." "Neither can I. I should write a paper about this! No, a book! I mean, it's a real scientific breakthrough, right? We could - Oh . . . no, I guess I can't do that." ''- To Blue about the plant stimulant freeing Swordtail. "''I promise we won't hurt you, little monkey! What are you? Please come back!" - ''To a scavenger "''Mystery animals in a cave under the savanna - who can READ! Blue, this is the biggest scientific discovery of our lifetime! I wouldn't have to be a gardener if I told the queen about this. I'm sure she'd let me change disciplines so I could study them. Don't you think?" - ''To Blue about the scavenger. "''Magic is just science we don't understand yet." - ''To Blue about Clearsight's powers. "''They won't be OBVIOUS questions. They will be VERY SUBTLE. I am an EXCEPTIONALLY subtle dragon, sir." - ''To Blue about her plan to ask about where the flamesilks are kept. "''I'll be right here, Blue. I'll be here the whole time. I'll be here when you wake up. You'll be safe, I promise." - ''To Blue before his Metamorphosis. ''"No! I mean, I don't know what it was, but I sure didn't get all super possessed and freaky-looking and mean like everyone else I could see. Your eyes were totally white, Katydid! And you were growling at that old dragon! Couldn't you see how scared he was?" - To Katydid, after being asked whether Queen Wasp's mind control affected her. "Blue wouldn't help you burn cities. He would never do anything to hurt anyone." ''- To Sundew and Swordtail about Blue. ''"Killing off all the HiveWings- or trying to- won't solve anything. It'll just cause another war that'll be even bloodier than the last, and this time Queen Wasp will hunt you to the very ends of the continent to make sure you're gone. And maybe all the SilkWings too, if she thinks some of you were in on it." - To Sundew “Katydid. My mother. Katydid is my mother.'' - To Lady Scarab about Katydid. Why are you here? Aren't you that dragon with the telescope? How old are you really? Do you ever eat little Hivewings? IS THAT WHY YOU'RE PLEASED THAT I LOOK HEALTHY? - A young ''Cricket's thoughts after Lady Scarab says she looks healthy. Relationships Katydid Cricket is shown to have a close relationship with her "sister", who, unlike her, isn’t immune to Queen Wasp’s mind control. Before she met Blue, Katydid was the only other dragon to know of Cricket’s mind control immunity, since after realizing that Cricket was immune she encouraged her to hide it out of fear of what Queen Wasp would do upon finding out. Cricket also states that though she often goes missing during and after the periods of time in which Queen Wasp takes control of the other HiveWings, Katydid always covers for her. In The Hive Queen, Katydid is reveald to be Cricket's mother, and not her sister. Bombardier While Bombardier believes Cricket is in love with him, the HiveWing never had any loving feelings for him. She describes him as awful and arrogant, and also comments that there isn’t much difference between his normal self and his “brain-dead”, mind-controlled self. Cricket does say that if she had the power to save the HiveWings from Queen Wasp’s mind control, she would save Bombardier, but perhaps last, after all the others. Blue Cricket and Blue became close, fast friends throughout The Lost Continent . She and Blue say they are best friends, with Cricket saying she would be Blue's best friend even if she knew every dragon on Pantala. Blue values her friendship and is also in love with her. Cricket does describe him as being one of the most colorful (and handsome) SilkWings she'd ever seen, calling him "beautiful" at least twice. She even repeats in her book that she thinks that his face and wings were handsome. In the ''The Hive Queen, Cricket looks back to in The Lost Continent when she promises to stay by his side until he wakes up, and describes the moment as romantic. Later on in the book, it is revealed that she returns Blue's romantic feelings, and wonders if he likes her back. Lady Scarab Lady Scarab comes up in conversation between Blue and Cricket. In The Hive Queen, we learn that Lady Scarab helped cover for Cricket's egg. Lady Scarab often scolds Cricket, but it is unlikely that she hates Cricket. Sundew Sundew hates HiveWings more than Swordtail, but seems to be okay with Cricket, acting a bit more friendly and open around her in The Hive Queen. Bumblebee Bumblebee hatched from the egg Cricket rescued from Queen Wasp's poisons, so she and Bumblebee have a naturally close relationship. Swordtail Cricket thinks that Swordtail somewhat dislikes her, but changes her mind when she says they need find out what was wrong with her and right with the rest of the tribe. However, Swordtail corrects her and says they need to find out what was right with her and wrong with her tribe. Cadelle Even though Cadelle is Cricket's grandmother, they don't get along. Cadelle resented Cricket since her hatching as the former is mean and had no wish to raise another child even if the dragonet was her grandchild. According to Lady Scarab, Cadelle would rather had drowned Cricket as an egg than raise her as her own dragonet. Trivia *Cricket is the third dragon known to wear glasses or spectacles, the other two being Thoughtful and Lady Scarab. The fourth dragon mentioned to wear glasses or spectacles is her father, Malachite. *Though trees no longer are widespread on Pantala, Cricket somehow managed to grow a small tree in her terrarium in her botany class, having found the seed on a gathering trip, and not having known what it was until it started growing. *Cricket is the third dragon seen in the books with scientific aspirations, the other two being Winter and Mastermind. *Like Winter, Cricket has expressed interest in studying, and learning more about scavengers, which she calls "reading monkeys." *Cricket is the second character in the series to be depicted on two book covers (The Lost Continent and The Hive Queen), the first being Turtle. *However, she is the first dragon to have her full body appear on two covers. *This also makes her the first dragon to have two different designs, as her black scale pattern differs between the covers of TLC and THQ. *On page 125 of The Lost Continent, Cricket says that "My own two wings work perfectly fine", when in reality, HiveWings have four wings. *She is the first main POV dragon to wear glasses. *Cricket is the first HiveWing ever known be immune to Queen Wasp's powers in series, the second being an unnamed male HiveWing in Cricket’s flashback in the first chapter of The Hive Queen. It is later revealed that the royals are currently immune as well. *She is the third dragon to have her mouth closed on a book cover. The first being Moonwatcher, and the second being Darkstalker. *A cricket is a leaping insect closely related to the katydid and the grasshopper. There are approximately around 2,400 species of crickets in the world. Male crickets are known for their chirping. Gallery HiveTransparent.png|A typical HiveWing, by Joy Ang CricketTemplate.png|Reference by Platypus the SeaWing HiveWing Sigil.png|HiveWing Sigil by Platypus the SeaWing AE467B43-4410-401D-BA0E-7DF78030830D.png|Reference by Miraculouslazulitheseawing WoF_Cricketheadshotsmall.png|Cricket by Biohazardia Cricket by Constellation of the NightWings.jpg|Cricket by Constellation of the NightWings Justcricketlowerqual.png|Cricket by Joy Ang (Barnes & Noble Special Edition)|link=https://orig00.deviantart.net/c3ca/f/2018/202/d/8/justcricket_by_warbender-dchvkkh.png 94A7BD2B-4591-4221-8C42-A30306AF7684.jpeg|Cricket Reference by Hawkluvr IMG_0472.png|Lost in Thought by Plasma the Hybrid cricket_the_hivewing_by_88aurora88-dcflkhv.png|Cricket the HiveWing by 88Aurora88 little_miss_cricket_by_tayseiber-dcgep7c.jpg|Little Miss Cricket by tayseiber forbidden_friendship_by_tayseiber-dcfprpz.png.jpg|Forbidden Friendship by tayseiber matching_glasses_by_tayseiber-dcgi9o9.jpg|Matching Glasses by tayseiber golden_gal_by_kenyaford-dcfod45.jpg|Golden Gal by KenyaFord hidden_in_plain_sight__lost_continent_spoilers___by_kenyaford-dcfrvf4.jpg|Hidden in Plain Sight by KenyaFord walkin__a_tightrope__minor_spoilers__by_beetlethesilkwing-dcg0zry.png.jpg|Walking a Tightrope by BeetleTheSilkWing cricket_and_blue_by_pegasusriderofficial-dch68yt.png|Cricket & Blue by PegasusRiderOfficial you_re_beautiful_by_sharkcatz-dch8fmx.png.jpg|You're Beautiful by sharkcatz cricket_by_nochtliproductions-dcgevhv.jpg|Cricket by nochtilproductions cricket_by_fuegobeardie-dcg0e5y.png|Cricket by FuegoBeardie idaho_by_wolfiiwiingz-dcftz21.png|Idaho by WolfiiWiingz Screen Shot 2018-07-25 at 2.49.19 AM.png|Cricket & Blue by StarstruckDoodles wings_of_fire_icon__cricket_by_mythical_mishmash-dcgy3qx.png.jpg|Cricket by Mythical-Mishmash|link=https://www.deviantart.com/mythical-mishmash cricket_the_hivewing_by_cutedog132-dchob47.png|Cricket the HiveWing by cutedog123|link=https://www.deviantart.com/cutedog132 77095255-11E0-425A-B1F2-5DD9D02DC659.png|Cricket & Blue By Berry the HiveWing Cricket the HiveWing.png|Cricket by RikoNicoNii golden girl.png|Cricket by irisbaidezart|link=https://irisbaidezart.tumblr.com/ Cricket By thewingedbeastie.jpg|Cricket By thewingedbeastie|link=https://deskgram.net/p/1881580140208578177_8630016613 Cricket with eyepatch glasses.png|Cricket in a Lab by ShimmertheIceWing A real cricket.jpg|An actual cricket wof_a_h_a_d__cricket_by_seascraper_dctqwro-pre.png|Cricket by Seascraper References de:Cricket fr:Cricket Category:Characters Category:Females Category:HiveWings Category:LC Characters Category:POVs Category:Protagonists Category:Dragonets Category:HQ Characters